Released: 12/04/2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Howard Weaver, the vice president of news at The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) who twice led the Anchorage Daily News to Pulitzer Prize gold medals for public service, has announced his retirement at the end of the year.

"Howard really has been a visionary executive, and we can't thank him enough for all his leadership and distinguished service," said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy chairman and chief executive officer. "Howard wholeheartedly embraced the digital age and saw an important place in it for McClatchy journalism, McClatchy values and McClatchy's public service mission."

Pruitt, who joined McClatchy as a First Amendment attorney in 1984, added: "I've worked closely with Howard for 25 years, dating back to the days when I was a young lawyer vetting stories coming out of his newsroom in Anchorage. I'll miss him both professionally and personally and wish him all the happiness in the world in retirement and the next adventures in his life."

A successor has yet to be named. "We will be working to identify the best person to fill it and doing so in the future," Pruitt said.

Weaver, 58, concludes a storybook journalism career in which he led his hometown newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News, to two Pulitzer Prize wins for public service journalism and helped the paper prevail over its larger rival, the Anchorage Times, in an intensely competitive, old-fashioned newspaper war that lasted decades.

A 1998 Alaska Public Radio Network survey named Weaver one of the 40 most influential Alaskans in the first 40 years of Alaska statehood.

"I've been working at newspapers one way or another for 40 years now, almost 30 of them with McClatchy, and leaving marks one of the biggest transitions of my life," Weaver said. "Journalism is the profession that has defined me, and McClatchy is the company that nurtured me. It's hard to leave when friends and colleagues are working so hard in such a tough period, but one chapter has to end before another can begin. I feel like there's another chapter left for me."

Weaver and his wife, Barbara Hodgin, plan to remain in Sacramento, where Weaver said he intends "to think and try to write and go camp in the desert." They also hope to spend time in Alaska.

The Anchorage-born Weaver began his journalism career as a high school sports stringer for the Anchorage Daily News. He joined the paper full time as a reporter after graduating from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1972. He also covered Alaska for various national publications.

In 1975, Weaver was the writer and reporting team leader of "Empire: The Alaska Teamsters Story," which won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for public service. He left the paper in 1976 to help start the Alaska Advocate, a statewide weekly newspaper. When it closed in 1979, Weaver rejoined the Anchorage Daily News, which was purchased by McClatchy that year. Weaver became managing editor in 1981 and served as editor from 1983 to 1995. In that position, he led the paper to a second Pulitzer Prize for public service in 1989 for "A People in Peril," which explored the high incidence of alcoholism and suicide among native Alaskans.

In 1992-93, he attended the University of Cambridge in England, earning a master of philosophy degree. In 1995, Weaver moved to McClatchy's corporate offices as assistant to the president for new media strategies, advising senior management on the digital advances taking place and the potential impact and opportunities for the company. In 1997, Weaver joined The Sacramento Bee as editor of the editorial pages. He returned to corporate in 2001 as McClatchy vice president, news where he oversaw the McClatchy Washington Bureau, administered the company's President's Awards for journalism, and spurred McClatchy newsrooms across the country to embrace the change and opportunities presented by the internet and new digital platforms.

About McClatchy

The McClatchy Company is the third largest newspaper company in the United States, with 30 daily newspapers, approximately 50 non-dailies, and direct marketing and direct mail operations. McClatchy also operates leading local websites in each of its markets which extend its audience reach. The websites offer users comprehensive news and information, advertising, e-commerce and other services. Together with its newspapers and direct marketing products, these interactive operations make McClatchy the leading local media company in each of its premium high growth markets. McClatchy-owned newspapers include The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer, and The (Raleigh) News & Observer.

McClatchy also owns a portfolio of premium digital assets, including 14.4% of CareerBuilder, the nation's largest online job site, and 25.6% of Classified Ventures, a newspaper industry partnership that offers two of the nation's premier classified websites: the auto website, cars.com, and the rental site, apartments.com. McClatchy is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MNI.

SOURCE The McClatchy Company

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